Apple Brings Low App Pricing Tier In India, As Low as Rs. 10!

Apple has sent an email to all developers, informing them about their new pricing structures. As a result, developers in India can now price their apps as low as Rs 10. As of now, developers in India can either offer their app for free or charge a minimum of 99 cents of Rs 63.46 (based on existing USD-INR conversion rate)

However, in some countries, prices have been increased, to take into account tax structure and exchange rates.

Price Increase

Prices of apps listed on Apple Appstore have been increased in these 4 countries:

Turkey; South Africa; South Korea and Mexico.

In South Korea, Apple will charge an additional 10% as Value Added Tax; meanwhile subscribers of apps in South Africa and Turkey and South Korea will need to re-subscribe the app after the price increase. Mexican users need not re-subscribe, although prices has been increased there.

Low Pricing Tier

In 6 countries, Apple has introduced new low price tiers, which will enable developers to price their apps at a lower price.

Two new thresholds: Alternative Tier A and Alternate Tier B has been introduced in these countries. In India, under Alternate Tier A, apps can be priced for Rs 10 ($0.16) and under Alternate Tier B, apps can be priced for Rs 30 ($0.48)

Apple had been using this Alternate Tier structure in China since last year. The same model has now been implemented across these 6 countries as well.

Earlier, developers from all the countries had to price their apps as per US Dollar, which was converted into INR or local currency at the time of purchase. Hence, for the same app, Indian developers can now charge $0.99 for US customers, but Rs 10 or Rs 30 for Indian customers. Apple verifies the location of the buyer, to implement this localized alternate pricing tiers

Note here, that in case developers wish to price their apps higher than the alternate tiers, they are always free to do so.

The market is upbeat after this announcement; as such alternate pricing tiers will encourage more users to shell out money for using apps. As per various tech observers, the baseline of Rs 60 was considered as ‘expensive’ for an average smartphone user.

It would be interesting to observe Google’s strategy now, for their Google Play Store apps on Android, as the minimum price of an app is $0.99 as of now. In case Google also announces such alternative pricing tiers for Android apps, then we can witness entirely new market for applications.

Do you think that Apple will succeed in pushing more apps purchase with their new alternative pricing structure? Or it will reduce the margins for developers? You can share your views by commenting right here!

Mohul keenly observes the nuances of Indian startup world; and tries to demystify the secrets behind Technology, Marketing, Mobile and Internet. He is a Writer by passion, Marketer by choice and Entrepreneur by compulsion. Follow him on Twitter here: @_mohul